Never Leave You
by BeautifulInsanity13
Summary: Finally the Flock are finding their families. But when Fang leaves Max and Nudge alone for a while and Max is taken by whitecoats, how will they all survive? Okay, i am really bad at summaries. Officially. Faxness, possibly some Niggyness. first fanfic.
1. Water Balloons and Underclothes

"Hey Max!! Catch!" yelled Gazzy. He threw something small, roundish, and bright green at me. By reflex, I reached up to grab it, tightening my grip as I did so, so that I wouldn't drop it, surprised by its weird squishiness. As I tightened my grip, it (insert prefix of your choice here)ploded, dropping water all over me, soaking my hair, my clothes, my skin. Actually, it felt pretty good. But that wasn't stopping me from murdering him.

I pushed my sopping hair out of my eyes, to see Iggy and Gazzy cracking up on the other side of the cave. "You guys are so dead!!" I launched myself at them and they stopped laughing and started running, towards the mouth of the cave. I unfurled my wings and started after them at hyperspeed, so that I ran into Gazzy, threw my arms around his squirming body, and just kept going, into the night sky. He whooped gleefully, never having gone this fast before. I dove towards the ground and he shrieked with laughter. Then he just started shrieking when he realized I was headed for the lake. I levelled out about ten feet over the water, than dropped him unceremoniously into it. He didn't even have time to unfurl his wings before entering the water with a splash that I just barely cleared.

I laughed and swooped upwards, enjoying the feel of the wind ruffling my hair and sliding over my wet skin, cooling it down even more. I glanced back at the cave and saw Fang, sitting on the ledge before it, watching with a faint smile on his face. I flew up there and landed beside him. "Hello, all-powerful watcher man." I was being silly, I knew. I just felt happy, for once.

"Hello. Your shirt's wet." Fang said, eyeing the shirt in question.

I looked down and suppressed a shriek. My light blue shirt was soaked, and beneath it my only bra that had any semblance of sexiness was obviously black and lacy (I'm more of a sports bra girl, personally, but last week, Nudge decided that she should start wearing a bra, and my sports bras are the really stretchy kind, so they fit her. That girl.)

I raced into the cave to change it, while Iggy and the just-returned, soaking wet Gazzy cackled.


	2. Hope and Friendship

After I had put on my only other shirt in a dark corner of the cave, I knelt down next to my pack, looking for the powerbars I knew I had in there. _Now where did I put them? Oh, come on, this pack is tiny!_ Just then, Nudge ran back into the cave, shrieking gleefully. 

"Max, Max, Iggy, Iggy, Fang, Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, Iggy, Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, Iggy!" She sat down and opened the laptop she was carrying. It had magically appeared about a week ago, and I don't want to know where it came from.

"Well, look at that, she finally knows our names." Fang came in and sat next to me, across from Nudge. Iggy sat next to him, and Angel plopped herself down next to me, then cuddled her way under my arm. Gazzy tripped into the space between Nudge and Iggy.

"Oh my gosh guys, I have the best news. I found family of Iggy's and Gazzy's and Angel's well, duh, if I found Angel' or Gazzy's family, I would have found Angel' and Gazzy's family, of course, but anyways, these people might want them! Iggy, you said that your parents said you had a cousin that they adopted that was at college, right, and that her parents died in a car crash and they took her in and then you were born and then you went missing and her name was Sierra, right, and she went to school in California, oh I just love California, so I looked her up and she's living in an apartment in Cali, she goes to NoCal, which is the University of Northern California, not a diet, like it sounds like, and she writes in her blog that she wishes that you're still alive somewhere, and happy, and that she could meet you, and we should go to California and you should meet her." Nudge stopped and breathed in. One very long sentence. Wow. After all these years, I shouldn't still be impressed, but sometimes I am.

Iggy, however, isn't a freak, well, he is, but not in that way, so he had to take a breath before speaking. "Wow," was his eloquent response. He appeared to be on sensory overload, which I didn't realize could happen when one of your senses is already completely toast. (That would be Iggy's sight, for all you idiots out there.) I watched him carefully for any form of response, but his face was blank. "Wow," he repeated. He took a deep breath, then ran his fingers through his strawberry-blonde hair, making it stand on end. "Wow. I never-I thought that-that my parents were losers, and that I'd never find family, other than you guys, like, I mean, family that's related to me." _Note to self: Make Iggy spend less time around Nudge, so he stops talking like her. Two of them would just be too weird. Not to mention annoying. _

"So, d'you wanna meet her?" asked Gazzy, hesitantly. 

"He-heck yeah," replied Iggy, changing his choice of word when I glared at him. How he knew I was glaring at him, I don't know. He's kinda creepy like that. 

Angel sat up onto her knees, with hope shining in her bright blue eyes. "Didn't you say something about our family, too?" The hope just radiated out of their dirty (well, Angel's dirty, Gazzy's more muddy) faces. 

"Yeah, what about us?" demanded Gazzy.

"Oh, yeah, right guys, sorry, I was just so excited for Iggy, sorry, your parents were pathetic losers, your mum OD'd years ago, and your dad's in jail for the next thirty years-" their faces fell. Angel looked like she was going to cry, and Gazzy looked like he wanted to hit something. "-but that's okay-" their faces lit back up, "-because your Aunt and Uncle are actually looking to adopt kids, and they wrote your parents every year on your birthday's, to say sorry about losing you, and just to send good vibes and stuff, and they look like great people, see?" she turned the screen, so we could see a smiling couple in their early forties, sitting on a garden bench. The woman looked exactly like and adult Angel. I looked at Angel and Gazzy. The look on their faces, it looked like Christmas morning. The look was heartrendingly hopeful. Just thinking about what my poor babies had been through brought a lump to my throat.

"And where exactly do they live?" asked Fang, who seemed to be the only one

not over-the-moon hopeful, super-hyper-excited, stuck on sensory overload, or near tears. Thank God I have him to keep me sane. I just don't know what I'd do without him.

_Probably fall to pieces, or some ridiculous thing. _Said the Voice. 

_Shut up. _I replied. I was surprised that, for once, it did. I didn't care if it was right, I just didn't want thoughts of saving the world to interrupt this moment. I wanted this feeling of infinite possibility to last forever. So I pulled myself together, and listened to Nudge again. 

"…In Southern California, south of Iggy's cousin, well, duh, 'cuz she lives in Northern California, and they live near the beach where…" She trailed off.

"The beach where I tried DIY surgery," I finished drily. Fang gave me a don't-even-think-about-it look. I gave him a _duh_ look in response. 

"Yay!" Angel and Gazzy jumped up and hugged one another. They started dancing around. "We're going to find our family, and they'll love us just like Max does, and Total will live with us, and Celeste will have a bed to sleep in and I'll be a ballerina, and we'll have pancakes for breakfast on Sunday s." Angel sang. Nudge gave Iggy a big hug. I laughed at the expression on his face, surprised, then he hugged her back.

"Aren't you excited, Iggy?" she asked, beaming at him.

"You know what Nudge?" he said. "I really am." His face broke into a smile and he hugged her again. "You know what else? We're headed to California."

"Yay, California!" yelled Gazzy, then resumed his excited chatter with Angel. 

"Hey Max?" Iggy asked me. 

"Yeah?" I said.

"D'you mind if I go for a fly? I need to stretch my wings for a couple of minutes."

"Sure, fine, just don't go alone. Take Nudge, or Fang."

"Max, can I go?" asked Gazzy. 

"No, it's your bedtime. Go. You too, Angel. I'll be there in a minute to tuck you in." They went into the back of the cave, still talking their heads off. 

"You want me to come, Ig?" asked Nudge. 

Iggy smiled. "Yeah, sure. Come on." He started towards the mouth of the cave, Nudge right on his heels. 

"Don't stay out too late." I called after them.

"Yes, Mother Max." Iggy called back. I could hear Nudge giggle as she leapt from the mouth of the cave. I headed into the back, to tuck in the little ones.

They were curled up against each other, fit together like spoons in a drawer. Gazzer was already snoring, worn out from the excitement of the day. Angel, however, was still awake. 

"Hey, Ange," I said softly.

"Max, if I go to live with my aunt and uncle, will I ever see you again?" she asked worriedly.

"Of course you'll see me, baby. I'll come visit all the time, I promise. But you belong with someone who can give you a constant home, and food, and clothes, and a real education." I pushed her blonde curls off her face and kissed her right on the tip of her nose. "I love you, Angel."

"Love you, Max." I kissed Gazzer on the forehead, then walked to the mouth of the cave, smiling, and sat on the edge. I leaned back against a big rock and stared up at the moon. It was just a sliver, just a beginning, the promise of a future, the same as what they all had. 

After a couple of minutes, Fang came out and sat next to me. Neither of us said anything, we just sat in companionable silence, each thinking our own thoughts. Finally, he spoke. 

"What're you thinking about?" he asked.

I took a deep breath before answering. "I'm thinking about lots of things. How lucky they are, to know about their families, how lucky that they'll have homes, and normal lives, how much I'm going to miss them. Also, how the travelling part of the flock will be cut in half, and how we have to find your and Nudge's families, and I have to go on and save the world." I felt a little lost, and a bit lonely at that idea. "Alone."

"Never," said Fang, suddenly fierce. "Never. You'll never be alone. I'll never leave you. I'll stay, no matter what. You can't save the world alone. Well, you can, but it wouldn't be any fun." He smiled at me, one of his rare smiles, and I felt better, all of a sudden. I leaned my head over onto his shoulder.

"Thanks, Fang. I couldn't ask for a better friend."


	3. Promises and Tears

A/N: I know this is a really short chapter, it's more an add-on to the last chapter, but i'm too lazy to go and change it. Plus, i'm really tired.

We sat like that for I don't know how long, a couple of hours at least, looking at the stars, feeling safe and happy, and just not so alone. We didn't see Iggy and Nudge coming back, so when Nudge spoke behind me, I jumped, and took my head off his shoulder mighty quick, as if I'd been caught doing something I shouldn't, then I felt stupid. I had every right to sit like that with my brother. Then Iggy tapped me on the shoulder.

"Max? Fang? I have next watch, you guys can go to bed."

"Thanks, Ig." I whispered back, then got up, stretching. Nudge giggled, and I saw she was looking at me. "What?"

"Nothing." I looked at her. "It's just, you look like a cat when you do that, when you jump like that, and then when you stretch."

She'd seen me jump? Well, crap. "That's exactly what I need, cat mixed in with my human and bird. No thank you. This freakishness is good enough, thanks." She giggled again, then headed back into the cave. I shook my head, then followed her. Silly thirteen year olds. Nudge curled up on the side of Angel and Gazzy closest to the mouth of the cave, while I went right to the back corner, while Fang stayed outside to talk to Iggy for a while. 

I curled up in a ball, facing away from everyone, and fought loneliness. I had my flock still, after all, and why feel alone until you really are. But, lying there in the cold dark cave, all my fears just swamped me. Fear of losing my flock, fear of being alone, fear of having to save the world alone. I was only sixteen, after all. And now I was in danger of losing the only family I'd ever known. Tears slipped out of my eyes, and I couldn't stop them, so I just let them flow, trying not to make any sound. I thought I'd succeeded, until I heard Fang lie down next to me. I felt a hand stroking my hair. I sat up, and he put his arms around me. I buried my face in his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his waist. We stayed like that for a while, as the tears slowed, then stopped. Finally, I pulled away. 

"I got your shirt wet." I said, and sniffed.

"Yeah, because I'm so bothered," he whispered. I laughed softly.

"Thanks, Fang. That's the second time today. I'm sorry, you know I'm not usually like this, I just…I just…" I trailed off. Then I lay down on the ground, facing the wall. Fang lay down beside me, never one to press a topic. A minute later, I rolled so I was lying on my back. "Fang? I'm scared." I turned my head to the left, so we were face to face. I couldn't make out his face, the cave was too dark, but I could feel his body heat, he was so close to me. I felt him take my hand, hesitant, and I entwined my fingers with his. 

"I told you, Max. I'll never leave you." His breath was hot and sweet on my skin, and I could scarcely breathe from the nearness. I bent in towards him, then changed my mind at the last second and turned my face away. I heard the smile in his voice. "'Night, Max."

I shifted back onto my side, so his arm was around my waist, his hand still in mine. "'Night, Fang."

I slowly drifted off with the rhythm of his heartbeat against my back, and didn't wake until morning, hours later, still safely encircled. 


	4. Nudge In a New Light

"Psst! Max! Hey, Max!" whispered Nudge.

"Y'know, Nudge, that when we're flying more than 200 feet from anyone else, whispering is kind of pointless, don't you?" I asked, conversationally.

"Yeah, well, whatever. Y'see, I was wondering if you ever found out anything about your or Fang's parents, because if you did, I'll try and find it for you guys." She looked at me eagerly.

I smiled. "Thanks, Nudge, but I didn't find anything. But keep looking for your family, don't worry about me. And maybe keep an eye out for Fang. All I know is that his mum was a single mum, a teenager, and that she was going to keep him instead of putting him up for adoption."

Nudge looked at me with a kind of pathetic awe. "You said something that was longer than the thing I said before it." The look changed slightly, and then she looked sad, suddenly. "Oh, Max, you're so brave, and you don't even care about finding your own family, you just care about us finding our families and being happy you're such a wonderful person, always looking after us and out for us and protecting us, and never worrying about yourself getting hurt and I wish I could be selfless and brave and happy for Iggy and Angel and Gazzy like you are but I cant and I'm going to be so miserable when they leave, especially Iggy, but I don't know why Iggy…" she trailed off and burst into tears. I signaled to Fang that we needed to take a break. He nodded, and banked towards a big ledge on the edge of the cliff. We all followed him. I just love the Cascade Mountain Range, so many useful cliffs and stuff to land on. But, back to Nudge. I guided her down to the cliff and we landed a little ways from everyone else. 

"It's okay, Nudge, it's all okay." I leaned in to hug her and she buried her face in my shoulder and sobbed. I had a flashback to me and Fang, the night before. I just rubbed her back and stroked her hair, a little in shock. She must have been bottling up emotions for a long time. I thought about what Nudge had said and felt a pang of guilt. She thought I was some kind of saint. But if it weren't for me, no one would need to protect her from mutant wolves, or feed and clothe her while on the run. If it weren't for me, she would be a normail little kid, playing skip-rope at recess and baking cookies with her mum and 1.6 siblings while her father sat and the table drinking coffee and reading the Georgia Straight. She'd be crying about the juvenile crush who thought girls were icky, rather than running for her life and eating protein bars for breakfast and crying because of the possibility of half of her family being taken away from her in only a couple of days. It was all my fault and I needed to make it up to them. I needed to find all their homes, and then carry on to save the world. It's my fault that we're being hunted. They're after me.

I thought about the other thing Nudge had said, the part about missing Iggy. Wait, did that mean…well, that was a new thought. And now, I had a feeling that it would nag me more than the Voice.

_Yes, well, you do need to get around to saving the world soon, you know._

_And here I thought that you were going to leave me alone for just one day._

_I wasn't._

_Is one day, just one little day, 24 hours, so much to ask?_

The Voice didn't reply. I didn't expect it too. I just felt slightly miffed as I stroked Nudge's hair. Slowly, her sobs faded to sniffles, and then stopped. She pulled out of my hold and wiped her face on her sleeve. "I'm sorry. I got snot on your shirt." Again, with the flashback to the night before. "I'm also sorry for losing it like that. I haven't done that in a long time. I just feel really condused and out of sorts lately, and the thought of losing them just feels like too much. And I'm growing so much, and my mind cant keep up, and then I talk to try and get it all out and then I realize that I've set everyone on edge trying to make myself feel better, and then it just makes me feel worse for making everybody else feel worse. And now I've made you feel bad about how im feeling." She looked like she was about to start crying again.

"It's okay Nudge, I get it, you're just going throughan awkward phase right now and you're just trying to figure it all out. Hey, growing up is complicated. I get it."

Nudge nodded. "Thanks, Max." She stood up, kissed me on the cheek in another, silent thanks, then walked off towards the others. Ah, Nudge, growing up. What a delightful thing this is.

Soon enough, she's going to have a lot of questions about growing up, and I'll have to sit down with her and answer them, probably at a time when I'd rather be sleeping. Huzzah. With that cheerful thought in mind, I wandered off after Nudge, towards the part of the cliff where everyone was scolding Gazzy. Do I really need to say what for?


	5. Where Is His Mind?

A/N: I just realized that the beach where Max tried to get her chip out is on the other side of the country. Whoops. Sorry 'bout that.

Flying is wonderful, truly exhilarating. I think that everyone should try it at least once. It feels like magic. But then, we pay for it with our whole mutant-freaks, defy-death-on-a-daily-basis complex. If I had to choose between said complex plus wings, or a normal, flightless life, I'm not sure which I'd choose.

"I think you'd choose us, Max," Angel said, swooping over so she flew right below me.

"Angel! What have I said about reading people's minds without permission?" I demanded.

"Not to do it. Sorry Max." She hung her head and looked ashamed for a minute, Then she perked right up and turned to look at Fang, giggling. I glanced back at him and he looked faintly embarrassed.

"Angel!" She did the whole hanging-head-looking-cutely-ashamed thing.

"Sorry Max. This time, I'll really stop." She pouted a bit, then shot a mischievous grin at Fang, then flitted off to play tag with Gazzy. 

Fang flew up next to me. "How are you feeling?"

I glanced at his emotionless features, confused. Then it clicked. He was talking about Iggy', Angel', and Gazzy's families. "I dunno. I mean, really the same as the other night. What about you?" I knew that the loss of Iggy was going to hit him hard, because they were so close. Also Angel, because he loved her like his own little girl, I knew. He didn't like to show it, but I knew he was really a big softie.

He shrugged. "I'm gonna miss them." That boy is infuriating. At least I got four words. I waited, to see if he was going to say more, then gave up.

"Again, sorry about the way I freaked the other night. I just…I just reacted badly to the idea of losing them, I guess." 

"Yeah, it's all right, you were just being a girl." He said. I tried to swat him, but he dodged out of reach, coming around behind me and tugging at my feet.

"Fang! Stop it!" I said, but I was laughing. I tried to hit him again, but he ducked out of the way and took off. I went after him, still laughing.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The next couple of days passed quickly, without incident. We all played and laughed, and tried not to think about what would happen when we got to California. But the days passed, as they always do, especially fast like they are when you want them to be slow. The border to California was fast approaching. From the place we stopped for the night, you could actually see a big orange sign. "Welcome to California!" it proclaimed in large, cheery letters. To me, it looked exactly like the kind of sign that would say "Welcome to Hell!" just to be despairing and macabre. Just as we were landing, Nudge came over to me.

"Max, can I spend watch out with you? I need to talk to you." She asked, tentatively. I sighed. I knew this was coming soon, I just didn't want to deal with it. 

"Sure Nudge. That sounds fine. I'm on first watch tonight." She nodded, and we all went about our business, Gazzy and Angel collecting firewood, Iggy getting the fire started, Fang getting out food. Nudge went over to Iggy, watching. He held out the matches, as if demonstrating for her. She nodded, showing she understood, watching his face and listening intently. He held out the matches, then, and she took them. I watched for a minute, smiling as she struggled to get the fire to light. I looked at Angel and Gazzy then, with armloads of dry wood at their feet, watching Nudge, blue eyes bright through grubby faces. _Note to Self: Get those filthy children clean before they meet their relatives._

I went over to help Fang with food. He had out a knife and was sharpening sticks, to roast food on. He had a few good sticks next to him, so I sat down, taking out my knife. I picked up a particularly thick one and set to work. The green wood came off in curls as I worked. I glanced up at Fang, at his dark eyes, so carefully set in his work, which meant that really they were somewhere else altogether. But where? In California? With his mother, wherever she was? Back at Itex? Where? He looked a bit confused, and a bit lost, and a little bit sad, it seemed like. He glanced over at me, and I looked away quickly. I glanced back, but it was gone. He was good old blank Fang again, with no hint of what I'd seen before. We finished the skewers, but that question was still nagging me; where was his mind?


End file.
